🐰 April is All About Leaning into "Desirable Difficulty: Moments of Productive Struggle"

Welcome to the April edition of our MCS Digital Teaching & Learning newsletter! As we head into the final stretch of the year and prepare for EOGs and EOCs, it’s tempting to look for the "easy button." This month, however, we are leaning into "Desirable Difficulty: Moments of Productive Struggle."

True learning doesn’t happen when things are frictionless; it happens in the "struggle." Our focus for April is moving AI and digital tools away from being "cheat codes or consumption based" and toward being cognitive scaffolds. Using digital tools that push students to think harder, not just work faster.

🚀 Make it an April goal: Audit one assignment. Is it too easy because of the tools or structure? How can you add a layer of "desirable difficulty" back in to ensure the learning sticks?

Inside this issue, you’ll find:

• Feature Focus: From Consumers to Creators: The Power of Student Creation

• Real World Applications: Book Reports turn into Podcasts at one Elementary School

• AI Prompt of the Month

• New Docs AI Question and Assessment Creation Tool (Beta)

• Google Workspace Tip: Going Beyond with NotebookLM

• District Provided Tools: Fresh tips for your favorite platforms.

• LMS Impacts: Integrating Canvas (6-12) and Google Classroom (K-5)

• Featured TED Talk: Priya Lakhani on why kids should be struggling (just a little) to learn deeply.

• PD Opportunities

• New Tool Spotlight: Figma FigJam

• EOG/EOC Test Question Generator GEMS

• Bonus: Find the Easter Egg and Submit your idea/creation for entry into a prize drawing!